I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve come to really enjoy reading ebooks. I’d always scoffed at the notion of reading an ebook, assuming I’d prefer the sensations of reading an ink-and-paper book. But recently I acquired a hand-me-down PDA and, lacking the sort of vibrant social life that would make the address book and calendar functions useful, I decided to give ebooks a try.
Before long, I was hooked.
It’s not so much the convenience factor, though they are that, to be sure (of course, it has to be said that you don’t have to worry about running out of battery power when you’re reading a conventional book). It’s just that, for some reason I haven’t quite pinned down yet, I seem to be able to read them much more quickly than normal books (and I’m no slouch in that department, either). They’re very comfortable, too…at least with the old PDA I’m using.
So far, my only complaint is that it isn’t always easy finding ebooks to read (partly because the latest ebooks are geared for a newer version of PDA than mine). But, thanks to sites like archive.org (with its collection of open source books and a mirror of Project Gutenberg) and software like ReaderWorks, I’m able to “roll my own.”
Right now, I’m reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I sure do dig stories about coked-up Bohemians solving crimes.